This week

We had quite an exciting week! On Monday we made thermometers and discussed how water changes when it temperature. Contracts and expands were our main themes for that day's science.

On Tuesday we had three separate visitor sessions! First we had a lively speaker from Oregon Forest Resources Institute, Mike. He came to share information about forests as a natural resource. We heard about uses of forests, management of forests, and some science of forests. We even learned some cool facts about bears and trees! Check out www.oregonforests.org for some neat videos about forests (yay forests!). Our second visitor session was with Deception Pass, the Navy rock band out of Washington state. They played for various pop songs for 45 minutes- and we were entertained from start to finish! Our final visitor was Alan, a semi-retired instructor from Columbia Gorge Community College. Alan is an expert on wind energy and spoke to us about the pros and cons, as well as the mechanics, of wind energy.

Watching Deception Pass in the gym

On Wednesday we had our final ECO time of the year. Luckily for us it was beautiful weather as we spent time outside planting native trees and plants! The outdoor classroom on the trail is looking fantastic. Ask your student what they planted and, when you're in the area, take a walk to see it in person. During silent reading we took advantage of the lovely weather and read outside.

Learning about the bushes and trees we were planting


Planting an Indian Plum

We planted a Western Red Cedar

Today we made portrait collages. One side is "realistic" while the other side is "whatever colors." Students picked between a self-portrait or working with a partner. This project, along with many others, will be on display at Portfolio Night on June 1st.

In addition to our guests, we have been busy working on our short story chapters (we are sharing next week), discussing natural resources of the gorge (projects begin next week), and punctuation.